Folding machine



Sept. 15,1964

w. JACK, JR

FOLDING MACHINE FiledJune 15-, 1962 United States Patent 3,148,875FOLDING MACHINE William Jack, In, Glasgow, Scotland, assignor to BakerPerkins Jaxons Limited, a corporation of Great Britain and NorthernIreland Filed June 15, 1962, Ser. No. 202,893 3 Claims. (Cl. 270-80) Thesubject of this invention is a machine for folding sheets into two equalportions and is particularly suitable for folding sheets of paper or forfolding sheets of textile material such as bed sheets and tablecloths.This latter application is of particular use in laundry plants.

A folding machine according to the invention comprises feeder means forfeeding sheets seriatim through the machine, a double blade contrived tocome against a sheet being fed through the machine, two feeler devicesengageable with a sheet being fed through the machine, driving meanscoupled to the feeler devices to move the feeler devices simultaneouslyand at the same speed in opposite directions towards and from thedoubling blade so that they are always equidistant from the doublingblade, means controlled by one of said feeler devices for causing thefeeler devices to move towards the doubling blade at the same speed asthe feeder means when said feeler device is tie-actuated after beingfirst actuated, and means controlled by the other feeler device foroperating the doubling blade and causing the feeler devices to move awayfrom one another when said other feeler device is actuated.

The feeder means may consist of two feeder devices arranged in series,the doubling blade being movable through a gap provided between adjacentends of the devices.

The feeder devices may be conveyor belts.

Each feeler device may incorporate a finger arranged to come against asheet passing through the machine and a switch to which the finger isoperatively coupled, the switch in the feeler device which first engagesa sheet passing through the machine being arranged to operate thedriving means to move the feeler devices towards one another and theswitch of the other feeler device being arranged when operated to set inaction the means for operating the doubling blade and the driving meansto move the feeler devices away from one another.

There may be associated with the doubling blade a pair of doublingrollers adapted to rotate while the machine is in operation, thedoubling blade when actuated entering the nip between the rollers.

A practical embodiment of the invention is illustrated in theaccompanying drawing in which 1 denotes a frame supporting guide pulleys2 and 3 about which a belt 4 is arranged to circulate and guide rollers5 and 6, and 7 and 8, about which feeding bands 9 and circulaterespectively, driven by electric motors 5A and 8A respectively. Thebands 9 and 10 are arranged to circulate in the same direction and therollers 6 and 7 are arranged close to one another so that a small gap isleft between the adjacent ends of the bands 9 and 10. 11 denotes afolding blade carried on the outer end of an arm 12 connected tomechanism 13 operative to cause the arm 12 to swing and the blade 11 tomove through the gap between the bands 9 and 10. 14 and 15 denote drivenrollers the nip of which is in the path of movement of the blade 11. 16denotes a delivery table. 17 and 18 denote feeler devices, the device 17being clamped to the lower flight of the belt 4 and the device 18 beingclamped to the upper flight of the belt 4. The feeler device 17incorporates a finger 19 engageable by a sheet carried on the band 9 andcoupled to a switch the arrangement of which is such that when thefinger 19 is engaged by the sheet the switch is set and then when thefinger 19 comes out ice of engagement with the sheet the switch isactuated to provide an impulse to operate a reversing switch 19Aarranged to cause driving mechanism coupled to the pulley 2 to operatein the direction to cause the belt 4 to circulate in such wise that thefeeler devices 17 and 18 move towards one another. The feeler device 18incorporates a finger 20 engageable with a sheet carried on the band 10and coupled to a switch so arranged that when the finger 20 is actuatedthe associated switch is operated to provide an impulse to actuate themechanism 13 to cause the arm 12 to swing in the direction to move theblade 11 through the gap between the adjacent ends of the bands 9 and10; and also to actuate the reversing switch 19A to reverse the motor 2Aand thus the direction of movement of the belt 4 and cause the feelerdevices 17 and 18 to move away from one another. The mechanism 13 is soarranged that when the arm 12 has swung to the position in which theblade is at the nip of the rollers 14 and 15 a trip device operates tocut off the operating current so that the blade 11 swings back to aposition below the level of the upper flights of the bands 9 and 10. Thefeeler device 17 also carries a projection 21 engageable with a switcharm 22 coupled to a switch 23 which is so arranged that when the arm 22is actuated the switch 23 cuts off the supply of operating current tothe motor 2A so that the belt 4 comes to rest.

In practice, when the machine is out of operation the feeler devices 17and 18 are normally in the position in which they are farthest from oneanother as will be explained later. When the device is star-ted up thebands 9 and 10 start circulating in the same direction and a sheetapplied to the band 9 is carried along by the band 9 until it is broughtinto contact with the finger 19 which operates to set the associatedswitch. The sheet continues is movement until the trailing edge of thesheet comes clear of the finger 19 whereupon by the release of thefinger 19 the associated switch operates to set the beltdriving means inoperation to cause the feeler devices 17 and 18 to move towards oneanother. The finger 19 remains immediately behind the trailing edge ofthe sheet since the speed of movement of the belt 4 is the same as thespeed of movement of the bands 9 and 10. The leading edge of the sheetcrosses the gap between the adjacent ends of the bands 9 and 10 and iscarried along by the band 10 until the leading edge meets the finger 20.Since the feeler devices 17 and 18 are always equidistant from the gapbetween adjacent ends of the bands 9 and 10 the blade 11 is thendirectly below the middle of the sheet. Actuation of the finger 20 bythe leading edge of the sheet operates the mechanism 13 causing the arm12 to swing and the blade 11 to rise through the gap whereupon it comesagainst the middle of the sheet and lifts the sheet, the sheet doublingabout the blade 11. The lifting action continues until the blade 11moves towards the rollers 14 and 15 and the portion of the sheet foldedover the edge of the blade 11 is brought into the nip of the rollers 14and 15 which latter pick the folded sheet up and continue the foldingaction while feeding the folded sheet on to the delivery table 16. Thefinger 20 in addition to operating the mechanism 13 also operates thebelt-driving mechanism to reverse the direction of movement of the belt4 so that the feeler devices 17 and 18 move away from one another. Ifanother sheet has been already fed on to the band 9 the leading edge ofthis second sheet comes against the finger 19 and the cycle is repeated.If, however, no new sheet has been introduced to the machine the feelerdevices 17 and 18 continue moving away from one another until theprojection 21 on the device 17 comes against the switch arm 22 whichoperates to cause movement of the belt 4 to cease so that the feelerdevices come to rest in the positions in which they are farthest fromone another.

What is claimed is:

1. A folding machine comprising feeder means for feeding sheets seriatimthrough the machine, a doubling blade contrived to come against a sheetbeing fed through the machine, two sensing devices actuable by a sheetbeing fed through the machine, driving means coupled to the sensingdevices to move the sensing devices simultaneously and at the same speedin opposite directions towards and from the doubling blade so that theyare always equidistant from the doubling blade, means controlled by oneof said sensing devices for causing the sensing devices to move towardsthe doubling blade at the same speed as the feeder means when saidsensing device is de-actuated after being first actuated, and meanscontrolled by the other sensing device for operating the doubling bladeand causing the sensing devices to move away from one another when saidother sensing device is actuated.

2. A folding machine as claimed in claim 1 in which each sensing devicecomprising a feeler device incorporating a finger arranged to comeagainst a sheet passing through the machine and a switch to which thefinger is operatively coupled, the switch in the feeler device whichfirst engages a sheet passing through the machine being arranged tooperate the driving means to move the feeler devices towards one anotherand the switch of the other feeler device being arranged when operatedto set in action the means for operating the doubling blade and thedriving means to move the feeler devices away from one another.

3. A folding machine as set forth in claim 2 wherein the switch in thefeeler device which first engages a sheet passing through the machine isresponsive to the trailing edge of the sheet and the switch in the otherfeeler device is responsive to the leading edge of the sheet.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,581,677 Carnovsky Apr. 20, 1926 1,878,404 Kahn Sept. 20, 19322,072,937 Beattie Mar. 9, 1937 2,145,592 Folger Jan. 31, 1939

1. A FOLDING MACHINE COMPRISING FEEDER MEANS FOR FEEDING SHEETS SERIATIMTHROUGH THE MACHINE, A DOUBLING BLADE CONTRIVED TO COME AGAINST A SHEETBEING FED THROUGH THE MACHINE, TWO SENSING DEVICES ACTUABLE BY A SHEETBEING FED THROUGH THE MACHINE, DRIVING MEANS COUPLED TO THE SENSINGDEVICES TO MOVE THE SENSING DEVICES SIMULTANEOUSLY AND AT THE SAME SPEEDIN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS TOWARDS AND FROM THE DOUBLING BLADE SO THAT THEYARE ALWAYS EQUIDISTANT FROM THE DOUBLING BLADE, MEANS CONTROLLED BY ONEOF SAID SENSING DEVICES FOR CAUSING THE SENSING DEVICES TO MOVE TOWARDSTHE DOUBLING BLADE AT THE SAME SPEED AS THE FEEDER MEANS WHEN SAIDSENSING DEVICE IS DE-ACTUATED AFTER BEING FIRST ACTUATED, AND MEANSCONTROLLED BY THE OTHER SENSING DEVICE FOR OPERATING THE DOUBLING BLADEAND CAUSING THE SENSING DEVICES TO MOVE AWAY FROM ONE ANOTHER WHEN SAIDOTHER SENSING DEVICE IS ACTUATED.